What do Americans think of Jesus?
What impact has the figure of Jesus had in shaping American society, including the military consumer capitalist culture which prevails at the turn of the millennium? Have certain understandings of Jesus failed to check America's culture of violence?
Surely the greatest single religious influence in American culture has been the various forms of Christianity housed in the thousands of frame, brick and stone churches across the land. From Baptist, Quaker and Anglican to Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic, the Thirteen Colonies and the fifty United States have felt the impact of worship and teaching in millions of Sunday morning services across the centuries. No single element of American culture has had anywhere near as many people sitting together, listening, singing and talking about what matters in life for as many hours as has the Christian religion. And this religion has said that Jesus should shape our lives.
There are many differences in the scores of denominations across America, but they share in common a fascination with the person of Jesus Christ. All of them have represented, in some fashion, the historical figure and religious icon known as Jesus.
However, consider this strange fact. In the Apostles Creed, the life and teachings of Jesus are passed over with a comma. Think of the wording: "Jesus Christ... born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilot" with a comma to cover Jesus' life. Perhaps with this as its guide, the Church has largely ignored the life and teaching of Jesus for the past 1700 years.
Is seems important to ask then, after of these centuries of teaching about Jesus, "What do Americans think about Jesus of Nazareth?" What is their image and understanding of this most-important of all spiritual figures, and how has he shaped their lives? To state it briefly, judging by how they live their lives, Americans see Jesus as a reasonably good friend of military consumer capitalism, and the violence inherent in it. But this image of Jesus is a shocking sight to anyone whose Jesus has not been shaped by American military consumer capitalism. It is impossible to address violence in America with addressing the way Americans view Jesus. That is why the first invitation, and the first step, of Every Church A Peace Church is to ask people to read and discuss some stories from the life of Jesus.
Here is the scene. Christians in America pervade the ranks of the armed forces and the cybercomputer-aerospace military industrial complex which equips those forces. American Christians buy upscale homes and fill the malls in easy company with the most avid of consumers. Christians in America occupy the high seats of capitalism, guiding its fortunes from executive positions in the marketplace and the academy. Their Jesus is certainly not a harsh critic of military consumer capitalism. He seems, indeed, quite at ease with consumer capitalism and military violence -- with protecting privilenge with violence. It is the betrayal of Jesus whch we described in the previous chapter.
But what image of Jesus is consistent with the Biblical accounts of Jesus of Nazareth? Who really was this man Jesus? In particular, what was his understanding of power? Did he believe that society is held together by violence -- violence assumed to be the exercise of power necessary to restrain anarchy, which has been called "redemptive violence?"
The church has emphasized that Jesus is "the Son of God." Jesus is viewed as God in human flesh, the incarnation of God. This view assumes that we already know who God is, the meaning of "God," and that we learn who Jesus of Nazareth really is when we identify him with God. But this begs the deeper question: Do we understand Jesus better because we already know who God is, or do we understand God better because we discover who Jesus is?
In striking contrast to calling himself Son of God, the gospels record that Jesus usually called himself "the Human One," or the Son of Man. Why "Son of Man" rather than "Son of God"? It appears that Jesus wished to identify himself first of all with humanity, rather than distancing himself with claims of royalty or divinity. He was in no rush to be known as a king, nor as the unique Son of God, according to the scriptures which record his life. He appeared as a giver of life, but he gave life, it seems, not so much by bringing it from heaven as by disclosing the possibilities of life already present in everyone he met.
After many pages which describe Jesus walking with the common people, healing their sick, feeding their hungry and speaking hope to their discouraged, all of the Gospels recount a crisis event around the question of Jesus' identity. The disciple Peter boldly declares "You are the Messiah." But Jesus responds, "Do not tell anyone," and seems dissatisfied with Peter's confession (Mark 8). Jesus appeared very concerned about what the term "Messiah," or Christ, meant on the lips of Peter and others. He was clearly dissatisfied with the understanding which Peter had of "the Christ." The argument which followed between Jesus and Peter grew out of their conflicting images of power, and from that moment on a dramatic tension builds between Jesus and his disciples as they pursue their respective notions of power. Jesus, it appears, views power as nonviolent resistance to evil, the practice of which is leading him toward suffering and the cross. The disciples on the other hand, in tune with their culture, view power as coercive, and even military, domination.
WHO HAS THE POWER?
Who has the power? On that question hinges a great deal about violence in America, and the world. Moreover, because of Christianity's profound influence in American history and culture, the church's understanding of the kind of power which Jesus exercised is decisive for the church's role in the cultural debate about power as coercive domination and the justifiability of war. This chapter proceeds, therefore, to examine the question of power in the life and teachings of Jesus.
A striking conclusion emerges from a review of power in the story of Jesus: the humanization of divine power was the most characteristic and radical thing which Jesus did. We discover that Jesus did not hoard life or power as monarchical kings and priests, claiming God's authority, had done throughout history. Instead, he declared that the kingship, or reign, of God was empowering everyone to live as kings and priests. The freedom of thought, action and resources which the powers of the world attempt to monopolize for themselves, Jesus declared to be the possessions of everyone, including especially those who were viewed as the least in society, such as women and children, the sick, the outcast and the imprisoned. It was the most striking democratization, or humanization, of power in recorded human history. It declared that God was giving God's own power to all humans.
The Hebrew creation story implied this with its assertion that Adam and Eve were created "in the image" of God. But it has not been easy for Jews, or Christians, to keep alive the understanding that God has chosen to live within all humans -- within each one individually and all of them collectively.
The church's traditional teaching that Jesus revealed God to humanity is important and true. But it misses the most radical and uplifting truth about Jesus when it fails to say that Jesus revealed God by telling people to look at human beings and their projects, with all of their brokenness, needs and potentials, to see God. Jesus set a little child in the center of the circle as the revelation of true power (Mark 9). He directed attention to the human being. And so, when we look at humanity, what do we see?
WHO IS RUNNING THE WORLD?
We see that people are tremendusly obsessed with power and politics, because claims of power and structures of politics are the way people assert their desire and ability to run the world. How can the billions of human beings on earth and their quadrillions of interactions and competitions be organized into a working whole which functions with some reasonable kind of success? Who is running the world? Who keeps this machine, or organism, working well enough to avoid The Big Head-on Collision, and even, hopefully, to make the journey, at least sometimes, enjoyable? Kings and potentates, queens and shamans, political and religious claimants to power of various types have asserted the duty and the ability to arrange a workable human society down through the eons of human existence. Have they really been in charge?
Ancient Israel in its worship sang and danced to one great confession: "THE LORD IS KING!" They asserted that God is the organizer and maintainer of the world and all of its inhabitants. Yet Israel had its own king, and kings, who struggled and connived to run their little piece of the world. The story of their struggles, along with the prophets who challenged their connivings, stands right near the center of Israel's whole dramatic story.
And so competing claims to power and debates about who is running the world are set right there at the center of Israel's life:
"THE LORD IS KING!" says the pious confession, but Saul, David, Solomon and Jehoshaphat are also king.
Then came Jesus, declaring, "THE KINGSHIP OF GOD IS AT HAND, REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS."
With these words Jesus asserted that God's rule was boldly invading the world of humans and their politics. Jesus invited people to change their way of thinking about who was running the world. "Repent," he said, "change your minds," and accept as good news that the rulership of God is coming into human experience in a dramatically new way.
The things which Jesus said and did, however, as the bearer of this message of God's rule were radically different from popular assumptions about how God rules. And so while he announced a kingship, he did not act the way people expected kings to act. And while he spoke sometimes about God, his central images of God were not the familiar ones of kings in battle or judges on thrones. Instead, he called a child into the center of the teaching circle, and said, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me" (Mark 9).
WHEN YOU WELCOME THE CHILD, YOU WELCOME GOD
What could this mean? Could he be saying, "When you have made this child, this small human-being-in-formation, your definition of power and value, you have seen God and welcomed God into your community?" God is in this child -- when you welcome the child, you welcome God.
This is a radical redefinition of God and of power.
And yet, it is a redefinition of God which has deep and ancient roots. It is not unfamiliar by any means, nor outside the stream of previous revelation. The Old Testment scriptures frequently show God interacting with humanity with regard to the exercise of power. Let us examine this first in Psalm 33:
Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright....
For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD....
The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.
The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all humankind.
From where he sits enthroned he watches
all the inhabitants of the earth --
he who fashions the hearts of them all,
and observes all their deeds.
A king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
and by its great might it cannot save.
Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
to deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and shield.
Our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
~ Psalm 33
The psalmist describes God looking down on humanity. God's first and central observation is that humans are not saved by the kind of coercive, dominating power by which they try to run the world.
"A king is not saved by his great army... A war horse is a vain hope for victory."
All the president's men cannot save you, and the Pentagon will not give you victory. Only God can save.
Have the churches of America said this loud and clear? Emphatically not.
A second Hebrew (Old Testament) text is foundational. In the book of Daniel, chapter 7, in the rich imagry of apocalyptic literature, the kings of the world are portrayed as four beasts of prey claiming great power and control. They terrorize humanity. An awesome beast with human eyes in his vicious horn and a mouth speaking arrogantly appears. Then the scene changes:
"Thrones were set in place, and an Ancient One took his throne, his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.... The court sat in judgment and the books were opened." Daniel says, "And as I watched, the beast was put to death.... As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away [their politcal power was broken].... As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being [like a son of man] coming with the clouds of heaven. and he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed."
The meaning is clear. God has handed over all authority to the Son of Man. This must be Jesus -- or so the church has interpreted it. But the story is not over.
As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter: "As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever -- forever and ever."
In the verses which follow, twice more it is explicitly repeated that
The kingship and dominion And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.
The vision revealed to Daniel that dominion at the end of history would be given, not to the son of Man as an individual figure, but to the holy ones of the Most High, a collective image. The contrast between the singular of the vision which Daniel sees and the plural of the interpretation which he receives is stark and emphatic. In the culmination of history, all power and dominion is given to the people!
Jesus appropriated the image of the Human One [Son of Man] to describe his own identity and mission, but he continued the Daniel tradition of asserting that God's power and rule, the kingship of God, was coming in the midst of humanity, and he declared that God was revealed in a child. This is an astonishing humanization and a totally radical democratization of political power and divine identity.
The book of Revelation completes the imagery. It depicts history moving toward culmination in the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the redeemed of God, the church, the holy ones (saints) are the bride of the Lamb. This collective body, a redeemed humanity, is united with God in a sacred union of the divine and the human.
JESUS REVEALED THE POWER AND PRESENCE OF GOD IN HUMANS AND THEIR APPARENT WEAKNESS
The Jesus we find in the gospels is promoting a good life, but it is not the life of military consumer capitalism. It is rather a life which he discovers already present in the lives of people. These people are often rejected by society, unfinished "specimens of humanity," but Jesus brings the bud of life which he finds in them to flower, and in so doing, he reveals the power of God.
Jesus disclosed the power of God at work in women, the half of humanity which his society routinely excluded. Jesus lived with women in intimate ways which broke the sexist taboos of his culture (Mark 7:24-30; 16:1-8; Luke 7:11-17, 36-50; 8:1-3, 40-55; 10:38-42; 11:27-38; 13:10-17; John 4). If Jesus had been in charge of it, the Messiah probably would have been female!
Jesus disclosed the power of God at work in the poor (Matthew 8; 11:5; Mark 10:21; 12:42; Luke 4:16-20; 6:20; 14:12-24). He lived with the poor, discovering the amazing resources for abundant life which they held in their working hands and loving hearts.
Jesus disclosed the power of God at work in the oppressed (Mark 1:21-2:12; 3:1-12; 5:1-20; 7:31-37; Luke 5:12-16; 7:11-49; 15:1-32). He walked with the oppressed, asserting the power of their voices, the authority of their lives and the freedom of their spirits in the face of authorities, laws and traditions which tried to hold them in bondage.
Jesus disclosed the power of God at work in the young (Matthew 18:1-14; 19:13-15; Mark 5:21-43; 9:30-37; 10:13-16). He listened to the voices of the young, danced to their tunes and disclosed hope for the future in the amazing potential of their lives. In the child, the nascent human being, he revealed the face of God.
Jesus disclosed the power of God at work in the company of friends (John 2:1-12; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30; 12:46-50; 17:1-8; Luke 24:13-35). From the marriage feast at Cana to the walk with two seekers on the road to Emmaus, he enjoyed life with friends. He made table fellowship, the breaking of bread in the company of friends, the most privileged moment of the revelation of God.
Jesus disclosed the power of God at work in the presence of enemies (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36; Luke 23:34). He crossed the chasms which divided individuals and groups, taking initiatives for love and truth to women (Mark 7:24-30), Samaritans (Luke 9:51-56), soldiers (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 10:25-37) and Gentiles (Matthew 12:15-21). He initiated the transformations which spring from the image of God in everyone, where hidden desires are in touch with what is not yet but could yet be.
Jesus lived with women, affirming creativity; with the poor, discovering resources; with the oppressed, asserting power; with the young, disclosing hope; with friends, enjoying life; and with enemies, restoring relationships. By these actions he showed us the way to God. Through the cross as the consequence of this way of living in the face of powers which opposed it, he showed us the cost of living by such truth. Through his resurrection he showed the life and power which is stronger than death. This way, this truth and this life is no belief in the "power" or "necessity" of redemptive violence. It holds that the power of God is the power of compassionate, suffering love. And so the church can, if it will, truly affirm that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Those who live in this way, truth and life do indeed "come to the Father."
From the radical democratization of God's power in Daniel's vision to the astonishing humanization of God's presence in John's Revelation, the witness of Jesus invites us to hear God's word and see God's power in the amazing and diverse faces of human beings who are being transformed into fulness of life.
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